The 61st Infantry Regiment [also called 26th Regiment] was assembled at
Charleston, South Carolina, in May, 1862. It was formed by using the 7th
Georgia Battalion as its nucleus. The men were from the counties of Irwin,
Tattnall, Brooks, Bulloch, Montgomery, Bibb, Quitman, and Wilkes. Ordered
north in June, the unit arrived at Petersburg, Virginia, with 1,000 officers
and men. During the war it was brigaded under Generals Lawton, John B.
Gordon, and C.A. Evans, Army of Northern Virginia. It participated in many
conflicts from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, went with Early to
the Shenandoah Valley, then fought in numerous engagements around
Appomattox. This regiment sustained 36 casualties at Gaines' Mill, 63 at
Second Manassas, 114 at Sharpsburg, and 100 at Fredericksburg. It lost
thirty-seven percent of the 288 at Gettysburg and sixty-five percent of 150
at Monocacy. The 61st surrendered with no officers and 81 men, of which only
49 were armed. Its commanders were Colonel John H. Lamar; Lieutenant
Colonels Charles W. McArthur and James Y. McDuffie; and Majors Peter Brenan,
Archibald P. MacRae, Henry Tillman, and James D. Van Valkenburg.